There Is No Me Beyond You

~20~

"Did Katerina tell you this? Because she told me that I cannot leave..."

"You cannot leave without me." I said, watching him as he pulled himself into a sitting position.

I followed his example and we sat on the bed facing each other, the crackles of the fire devouring the momentary silence that descended between us like a wall.

"When you arrived last year, leaving this place with you if you could not stay was my greatest wish, Samara. I would have followed you outside, I swear, I was ready to force Katerina to make it possible, if I had to... But it was before everything went wrong here... while Ioan was still alive, when Andrei never interfered with my life and Rareş would not dare to question my authority as a Prince..." He sighed heavily before he continued, "How can I leave this country on my son's shoulders like this? I'd feel... like running away from a battle which I know I'm bound to lose sooner or later, leaving them all behind to suffer for my mistakes. I love you, Samara, but unless I manage to fix this place before the portal reopens I will have to stay, and I beg your forgiveness..." he trailed off.

Even though it seemed like he was renouncing me, and Aurora, for his son and country, and I felt the traitorous tears rolling down my cheeks, I loved him even more for it, if that was possible. This is my Vlad. I would not want him to be any different.

"I understand," I whispered, voice breaking with sobs.

"Hush," he said, pulling me close and letting me bury my face into his chest. "It hurts me as much as it hurts you... forgive me..."

"There's nothing to forgive, I love you."

It took him a while to make me stop crying, but somehow he did; my sobs ceased at some point as I listened to his soothing words. I resolved not to mention his coming away with me ever again, but help him as much as I could to make this place the way it used to be in the past, before the portal would reopen again. I would never want to leave Junior here alone either, seeing the way things were now.

"Tell me about your son and Clara." I demanded as we lay down again, my head resting on his chest, one of his hands playing with my hair absentmindedly.

"What about?" He asked with a hint of a smile in his voice. "They... are together, and happy."

"But?" I asked, intrigued by his slight hesitation.

"Clara is an unmarried girl, and a mother. That's not something looked upon well here."

"Why does your son... " I started to ask, even as it hit me, "oh! Of course. The Council."

"Exactly. My son wanted to marry her the moment he found out that she was pregnant. He asked the Council several times. At first he meant to marry her because of Ioan, wanting to take care of his best friend's girl, and later, because he fell in love with her. And I'm sure that she loves him too. However, she does not want to be changed and so the Council refuses to marry them."

"That's so unfair." I murmured.

"Yes," Vlad sighed, "and I have no idea what to do about it."

"Are there many couples like them?" I asked, a shadow of an idea starting to form in my tired mind. Maybe I could do something... at least try... I thought, my eyes closing, Vlad's reply reaching me through a haze of sleep.

"Yes, quite a few..."

It was late when we finally got out of the bed the following morning, helped each other to get dressed and descended into the kitchen for an early lunch, hand in hand. I was so confused by all the unusual, furtive looks the inhabitants of the castle were shooting at us that I cornered Lucas at the first occasion I got to speak to him without an audience. The moment Vlad got distracted by ordering our horses to be prepared for our ride to the lake in the forest on which I insisted when he let me choose where to go in the afternoon, I was next to Lucas.